In our continued quest to explore the region of high radiation found above our planet the third launch of the Progeny Mk6 Block I was carried out earlier this week.
The Flight
The initial launch time of 18:18 UTC was missed due to wind shear in the upper atmosphere that would have hit the rocket during its unpowered coast stage after dropping the first booster. A second weather balloon was sent up and returned nominal wind readings for a launch at 19:35 UTC. The rocket flew off the pad heading 135° ESE with an initial force of 67.2kN for 4Gs of acceleration to prevent drag at the nose from flipping the rocket over during this early flight phase. After only three seconds the lower 0.625m booster had reached its maximum thrust output of 68.9kN before beginning to fall off and prevent the rocket from exceeding 80kPa of dynamic pressure. At L+17.9 seconds the rocket reached a MaxQ of 76.318kPa at an altitude of 4.958km ASL as the lower booster continued to tail off thrust until flame-out at L+33.7 seconds. Now at 14.070km the Automated Flight Control System staged the booster after one second, cleanly pushing it away so when its fins were exploded a second later the debris did not damage the rocket, which continued to coast upwards for another 6.9 seconds before the nose fell 1.5° and the second stage booster was ignited at 18.601km.
